The 44 special troops of the Philippine National Police (PNP) slaughtered on 25 January in a 12-hour gunbattle with the troops of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) were sacrificed by key officials of the PNP and the Aquino regime on the altar of the US terror war.

The operation in Barangay Tukanalipao, Mamasapano, Maguindanao, involved close to 400 elite police troops and supposedly aimed to capture Zulkipli bin Hir alias Marwan, and Basit Usman, said to be officials of Jemaah Islamiya. Both are included in the “US terrorist list” with bounties worth $7 million offered by the US State Department for their neutralization.

There is strong basis to believe that the botched operation was concocted by top officials of the Aquino regime upon the instigation of the US military. The US military in the Philippines has long been leading intelligence and combat operations to capture Marwan and Usman. In February 2012, the US military mobilized the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to drop so-called “smart bombs” in Jolo, Sulu after which the AFP claimed to have killed Marwan, but which actually killed several religious leaders and civilians.

It is becoming apparent that the US was directly working with Aquino. Information has surfaced that Aquino himself, working with the Zamboanga-based US military command, coordinated the operation with suspended PNP Chief Alan Purisima, who in turn mobilized his trusted officers and men from Central Luzon and elsewhere to carry out the operation without the knowledge of other police and military officials. Aquino flew to Zamboanga City on Saturday purportedly to visit victims of a bomb blast last week, but this appears to be a mere cover to enable him to monitor the operations, await results and report directly to the US military.

The Aquino regime likewise did not coordinate with the MILF, with which it has a standing ceasefire agreement, but which it suspects of providing safe haven to Marwan. It carried out the operation at Mamasapano at the risk of derailing the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law and peace negotiations with the MILF.

After the operation, US military forces were among the first to send assets to the area to help identify whether Marwan or Usman was among those killed in the carnage. Information has also surfaced about the possible inclusion of American soldiers among the casualties, and that one of the US military’s objectives in arriving at the area posthaste was to retrieve the bodies of slain American servicemen.

To describe the firefight as a “misencounter” is grossly inaccurate. That the Aquino regime deployed nearly 400 elite police troops indicates that it was expecting to encounter fierce resistance from the BIFF and MILF forces. Based on reports, it is clear that the police troops were ordered to carry out a virtual suicide operation that involved penetration of difficult terrain and confronting a hostile armed population. The apparent plan was to use its big numbers to run down BIFF and MILF defense at the cost of sacrificing its troops in the hope of catching up with their targets in the course of the gunbattle.

The CPP sympathizes with the families of the police troops who were sacrificed at the altar of the US terror war. It calls on all PNP officers and troops to speak up and stand against the Aquino regime and its police officials who ordered the Mamasapano operation and expose continuing US military interventionism in the Philippines.

The CPP further reiterates the call of the Filipino people to put an end to US military presence in the country and immediately abrogate the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), the Mutual Defense Treaty as well as all other lopsided military agreements with the US which violate Philippine sovereignty.